Siskel & Ebert Classics - 2/8/91 - Silence of the Lambs, Sleeping With The Enemy

[@OldBluesChapterandVerse]

Been watching a lot of the old Siskel and Ebert stuff. It’s wonderful having the benefit of seeing what these films have become over years in the cultural memory and assessing their critiques through that lens. Neither of them liked Unforgiven, for instance. They were both lukewarm on The Last of the Mohicans. They seemed to think Heat was a good film, not a great one. And of course Siskel’s take on The Silence of the Lambs makes him seem like he had no understanding of the art form. I’d love to have seen them go back and reevaluate films like we see Mark Kermode do now and then.

[@1mommymensa]

RIP Gene Siskel (1946-1999), Roger Ebert (1942-2013) and Robin Williams (1951-2014)

[@forcegfx]

YES!!!!! Been looking for a comprehensive collection of Siskel and Ebert for years!!! Thank You from all of us movie geeks who miss a time where movie criticism could make or break a movie. These guys wielded enormous power but didn't abuse it. There was an integrity in all of this. Rotten Tomatoes lacks the intellectual energy of these guys. There's nothing like a discussion about a movie and these guys made us feel like we were in the room with them. Thanks again. I'll can watch these for hours at a time.

[@andyfilm5785]

you're welcome roblox gamer! Appreciate it.

[@alexthompson9516]

I loved seeing Roger Ebert's brief interview with Robin Williams. There will never be another of either of them.

[@tlpricescope7772]

Gene tells Ebert, “ I think you blew it on this one” for his good review of SOTL. I wonder if he ate his words.

[@jus3278]

R.I.P. Siskel and Ebert. Missed the mark on Silence of the Lambs though. My favorite film of all time and an all time classic. Sleeping With the Enemy was great also.

[@slyjokerg]

Gene screwed the pooch hard on SotL. It is an all time great film.

[@jjgreen5206]

I agree with him

[@slyjokerg]

@@jjgreen5206 You have an opinion that is in the very scant minority.

[@alexthompson9516]

It took me some time to appreciate the film as well. I thought the production values were very weak, like a tv miniseries, and the acting was wooden. Now I think it's a masterpiece.

[@slyjokerg]

​@@alexthompson9516 There is much to love, but I always put first the fascinating dynamic between Lecter and whoever he is around regarding power. He is in a dungeonesque cell in a mental facility, behind a wall of plexiglass with air holes like a hamster gets... He is strapped to a backboard with a rabid dog type mask on his whole face... yet he is in control over everyone and everything. He is a prisoner dictating to the FBI and the local police, and his warden, how things are going to go. I just love that. The combination of self control and genius is what makes him so creepy and interesting. Just think of the dominance and masterful manipulation he exhibits when he says "Five foot ten, strongly built, about 180 pounds, hair blonde, eyes pale blue. He'd be about 35 now. He said he lived in Philadelphia, but may have lied. That's all I can remember, mum, but if I think of any more, I will let you know." Not only does he instantly stop everyone in their tracks and make them turn back to him, but we can easily imagine him further using their desperation against them in getting everything he wanted in his upstairs cell. The thing that still leaves me with wonder is trying to figure out how the hell he got Chilton's pen. And I don't want to know, if the book says, or something. Not knowing makes it better, more mysterious, creepier.

[@MrRufusRToyota]

True. Gene just didn’t see it was a monster movie, like Frankenstein.

[@DestinyPifer]

LA Story was freaking great! Their is not just comedy but a supernatural element involving the road sign. That and the love story was great!

[@keithdoherty3178]

LA Story is one of the Funniest Movies that Year - Saw it in the Theatre with my 7th Grade Girlfriend

[@daytripperhd]

SOTL's was great. They got that wrong. The ending is not the house. The ending is Hannibal stalking his next prey. Great and chilling ending.

[@GonzoShitcock]

"I do wish we could chat longer but...I'm having an old friend for dinner"

[@oobrocks]

The only film i saw 2 days in a row in theaters: Slience / Lambs!

[@mlarson154]

I didn't see "Slience" until it came out on video later that same year. I watched it three straight times in one day. The only movie I have ever done that with. Watch > rewind > watch > rewind > watch. Mesmerizing.

[@eggomaniac289]

Silence divided by The Lambs?

[@randycunningham7318]

LA Story was totally fresh and original. I can't think of another film like it.

[@Chris_Picklepants]

i seem to remember thinking it was exceptionally cliche/basic... However, I will be rewatching it soon as i haven't seen it in many years, maybe I was completely wrong.

[@Strazman]

I love how Ebert just ends the argument with Siskel about SOTL by throwing his hands up and introducing the next movie. Ebert's like, you really missed the mark on this one, Gene.

[@ractsninjas]

Wow talk about being wrong.....silence was an amazing movie.

[@MacReady1980]

Siskel’s pic for the video of the week was fine yet right as they cut the imagine when the guy is in the hospital bed you could see the boom mike come into the screen!

[@natalieps2387]

I wonder what gene thought at oscar time when sotl swept the top 5 everyone laughed at " I've just killed an intruder" in the theatre.

[@GonzoShitcock]

He's being goofed on right now in Heaven (or hell) for missing that mark

[@kali3665]

LA Story was fun - not laugh out loud funny, but a subtle funny I had never expected from Steve Martin up to that point. As a Californian, I loved the gag where Martin experiences his first earthquake. He jumps out of bed, screaming "It's an earthquake! We've got to get out of here!" Victoria Tennant stirs and says, "It's just a five pointer. Come back to bed." That's me. Except for the one quake that woke me up and suddenly everything slammed to the center of the room where my bed was. Not comfortable. 😊

[@kristinschermann6581]

I usually agree with Gene a lot, but he totally missed the mark about Silence of the Lambs....that movie was so creepily thrilling! Anthony Hopkins SO deserved his Oscar (Jodie Foster, not so much, imo) That film was absolutely stellar! One of the all-time greats!

[@forcegfx]

....and by the way, how wrong was Siskel on Silence of the Lambs? It's a classic film which is the ultimate proof he was wrong. It's actually odd how he didn't see how good a movie it is.

[@nivbri]

I loved the ending of sleeping with the enemy! “I just shot an intruder” shocked me!

[@thebookwasbetter3650]

Gene is completely wrong but his reasoning is quite good.

[@cesarincamendozaloyola4407]

An articulate and erudite man, but with a misled prudish approach to the art of cinema. Carpenter was right at ridiculing him.

[@markbraverman9622]

There both wrong of silence of the lambs. It's an amazing movie

[@speroskoufis7505]

That banter at 13:20 was awesome

[@habovay3]

Surprised Siskel didn't hang himself on Oscar night when Lambs cleaned up. 😅

[@terrygyimah1956]

My reviews LA Story (two thumbs down) Sleeping with the Enemy (two thumbs up) The Silence of the Lambs (two thumbs up, way up; one of the best films that year)

[@RemoGutierrez1]

Hey, I like Sleeping with the Enemy. I love the sense in my opinion, Siskel and Ebery seemed to look for perfection in films in order to give it a Thumbs Up

[@Wilson.katie815]

How did they miss the mark on SOL so much.

[@LannieLord]

ROGER is always so bundled up in layers of heavy wool clothing ! Larger/ heavy/ fat people got HOT really easily (high blood pressure) . I'm surprised he's not sweating all the time . I'm a larger person and If I was wearing all those clothes (even in air conditioning) I'd be passed out on the floor from heat exhaustion.

[@WalterFrith]

Gene Siskel's harsh comments about 'The Silence of the Lambs' are hilarious considering that the film won the best picture Oscar and he couldn't see how good it was initially.

[@HansGruberfan]

Siskels review on Silence of the Lambs is a swing and a miss.

[@nivbri]

Academy decided to go with the showier part in awakenings and nominate deniro

[@scalzmoney]

Thank goodness for Gene he missed the True Crime revolution on tv, podcasts and more movies. That's a tough assessment of Silence. And of course it swept the Oscars.

[@teejaye6226]

4:46 Automated Teller Machine, lol....Sleeping with The Enemy is the exact same plot as the Invisible Man ...w/o the invisibility. Siskel got more and more squeamish as he got older, oddly he liked Se7en.

[@MatsThyWit]

It's amazing to me that siskel could attack The Silence of The Lambs as violent and ugly but somehow gave thumbs up to Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer. It's not that o have a problem with him being harsh on horror films and thrillers. It's that I don't appreciate the inconsistency.

[@Lunchladydoyle]

Poor Roger Ebert having to listen to Gene Siskel trash Silence of the Lambs. Roger was right Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer is a phenomenal film but the styles and plots of both films are so wildly different to compare them is absurd.

[@edcampion3998]

Gene so so wrong about silence of the lambs

[@deeboy4378]

The seem to always hate movie's that are now respected as Great, classic movies.

[@mymangodfrey]

These guys were such bluenoses. From the perspective of 2021, Siskel and Ebert are sometimes barely distinguishable from James Dobson and Pat Robertson; nearly every episode included some sort of idiotic pearl-clutching. Gene’s review of Silence of the Lambs reminds me of the way that critics sneered at Bonnie and Clyde until they got the word from the New Yorker that it was a good movie. I still love the show (it reminds me of the 80s and 90s-increasingly pleasant these days) and am grateful for the uploads.

[@BookClubDisaster]

To be fair, Roger liked it and Gene didn't criticize it for violence, but for trying too hard to manipulate you into being scared of Hannibal Lecter.

[@DiogenesOfDelaware]

Would have been nice if either Siskel or Ebert used the word 'thespian' here when referring to Robin Williams.

[@ryangettig274]

My sister & I Met Roger Ebert at CinemaInterruptus of Silence Of The Lambs:)You stop the film -anyone does ,when something interesting comes up-University OF Colorado-Boulder did it-good memory-He was a cool cat,I mean he wrote Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls:)

[@ryangettig274]

Gene Siskel =way to steeped in Chicago where he grew up to get anything in L.A. Story-they didn't even mention the sigalert signs giving Martin Romantic Advice??:)

[@ryangettig274]

check out Kevin Anderson in Liebestraum,film-Kim Novak's in it too:)

[@theangrydruid6598]

wow, gene siskel dropped the ball on silence of the lambs i wonder if he later walked back that one, Sleeping with the enemy is one of my favorite films quintessential early 90's thriller, the plot certainly more plausible than pretty woman the movie Julia Roberts is more famous for, however I agree with siskel on LA story a forgettable pompous elitist schlocky film that bombed at the box office and is virtually unknown to anyone under 40

[@Walterwhiterocks]

Gene Siskel was a good movie reviewer, but he was never more wrong than on his take of SOTL. He likely realized this on Oscar night when the film mopped up so many big awards.

[@Jeckxdeel]

@@Walterwhiterocks The Academy awards don't mean anything in my opinion. I never took them seriously. But some Academy awards winning movies are exceptions as ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST and FORREST GUMP!

[@Walterwhiterocks]

@@Jeckxdeel I used to enjoy watching the awards back in the 70s and 80s when they were meaningful and for the most part the Academy got them right. But over time, they have become very political, both in the selections and "speeches." Often (not always) these days the top awards tend to go for the political stance of the performer and not on the quality of his/her work in that particular film.

[@mikeyerian2562]

I agree with Siskel on "Silence of the Lambs". Didn't understand the hype.

[@rickrocketts183]

WHY DO THEY DESCRIBE THE END OF SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

[@lilren2021]

Siskel, umm.... I’ve never heard of Harry, Portrait of a Serial Killer, but we still quote Silence of the Lambs in the cultural lexicon all the goddamn time.

[@Jim_Wolf]

Well, it's Henry, and it's actually a pretty good thriller. But you're right, 'Silence' is now considered a masterpiece and probably one of the ten greatest thrillers of all-time. Siskel did, from time to time, as did Ebert, really miss the boat on a future classic, though to be fair, they sometimes did change their opinions of the film later on, as Siskel did w/ Taxi Driver.

[@Jeckxdeel]

@@Jim_Wolf Many other films in the thriller/crime movie genre, even older, are way far better than THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS!

[@Jim_Wolf]

Many? Way better? I disagree.

[@Jeckxdeel]

@@Jim_Wolf It's absolutely your right! But I really think so. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is one of the most overrated movies all times combined in my opinion. This is my last word!

[@Jim_Wolf]

Hey, I'm not looking for a fight. You're entitled to your opinion. And I disagree w/ it. Mine is it's a nearly flawless film w/ absolutely flawless performances, and a brilliant script. But just out of curiosity, if you don't mind sharing, what are some thrillers you think are way better? Again, not looking for a fight, just wondering.

[@DoubleOProductions]

well Gene totally got Silence wrong here!!! what a stink pot!

[@avengemybreath3084]

These guys really tried. The amount of times they completely missed a mainstream masterpiece is insane. They reliably preferred artsy films.

[@derronhall495]

Parker was pretty hot.

[@geronimus-prime]

I'm watching these because I love to hear people talking about movies. But I must admit that there are a few one-note biases that Roger & Gene are constantly tripping themselves up on. And one of them is this idea of Robin Williams _"sabotaging"_ his dramatic performances with comedic turns. _Do they not realize that comedy is a much more challenging art form than drama???_ And of course there is facile comedy, just like there is facile melodrama. Both of these can be big hits with facile audiences. But Robin Williams's cavalcade of impressions has some genuine wit to it. His immitations are not on the same level as sophmoric put-down or gross-out humour. They are - as Ebert would define true comedy - precise observations of genuine human behaviour. And talking of human behaviour, has Ebert ever noticed that real humans in dramatic situations tend to make and laugh at jokes? I don't know where this strange cultural habit of treating _serious_ stories as more significant and worthy than comedic ones comes from. But I would suggest that it is wrong-headed. I will heap infinitely more praise on the artist who makes me temporarily forget my weakness and mortality than on the one who causes me to all-too-keenly remember it.

[@philipcohen7192]

LA story 91 percent on rotten tomatoes

[@branagain]

I really liked LA Story. On the other hand, I agree with Siskel regarding Silence of the Lambs. I was never a fan.

[@toymanreturns546]

LA Story: 👎⭐1/2 a poetically ill-conceived comedy film which Steve Martin tries to revitalize his romantic relationship with Victoria Tennant's character. One of the worst films of 1991. Sleeping With the Enemy: 👎⭐⭐ the story's scenario looked interesting with the abusive relationship narrative, later descends into a corny horror-influenced picture. The Silence of the Lambs: 👍⭐⭐⭐ a distorted but entertaining crime thriller about a rising detective on the case to find a killer who has fantasies about being gender reassigned.

[@ricardocantoral7672]

How is Silence of The Lambs "distorted" ?

[@toymanreturns546]

While I was entertained by some of the complexities of how the young FBI agent was to hunt down a serial killer, I had a few major reservations about the picture. One of the problems I had was when Clairce had to interview Hannibal. Sure he internally had some sinister intent to get to know her (that happens with clever-minded killers who are willing to open up to the person, before slowly but steadily, have the opportunity to harm and kill the victim covertly), but it seemed intellectually patchy from time-to-time. I'm not saying the interviews were dreadful, it was kinda half-hearted to some degree. One other major problem I had was the time when Hannibal was moved from Baltimore to Memphis, it didn't look like there needed to be heavily armed security to monitor Hannibal, in case he was to kill the officers. The death scenes were alot of fun I have to admit - it was well made and still holds up well 30 years later. However, I thought the FBI acted too late to try their hardest to catch Hannibal. They seem to be ill-conceived, as they finally come into terms they lost their escapee. Did I like the overall quality and presentation? Of course I did. It's not a perfect film to sit through, but it's enjoyable enough to learn Buffalo Bill is the main antagonist of the film.

[@ricardocantoral7672]

Hannibal Lecter is one of my favorite fictional characters. I wish I was like him.

[@Jeckxdeel]

Do you really wish that?

[@ricardocantoral7672]

@@Jeckxdeel Yes, sans the compulsion to kill.

[@rockingbeat]

You like liver and chianti?

[@Fizbin321111]

I love SOTL but I can understand where Gene was coming from. He was more in to gritty realism and in this case he wanted to see real mental illness (like the movie Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, which he loved) and not overly sensationalized psychopaths who were portrayed more like supervillains.

[@ricardocantoral7672]

Gene assessment of the picture is totally off base. The material is sensational but the substance is there in the form of Clarice Starling and her plight hence the title of movie. Henry is totally different film and the comparison is nonsense.

[@reneedennis2011]

Good point.

[@avengemybreath3084]

Who cares that he might prefer some other kind of film? SOTL is an incredible movie on its own terms. He completely missed it.

[@JC-tr4gh]

Siskel on SOTL is waaaaaaay off, as he was with many films.

[@Maniac1607]

SWTE was extremely overrated.

[@weezymo4456]

Siskel wrong as always

[@randycunningham7318]

He had some good points on Lamb. It's pretty good, but overappreciated.

[@MediaBuster]

Silence of the Lambs sucked and had some of the worst acting in cinema history from Foster and Hopkins.

[@Jeckxdeel]

It's not really the acting that bothers me, but the pacing issues and the way too much longer dialogue sequences that make the film feels way longer than it is. Without forgetting also the countless and painful close-ups on the face of the characters! It's not a very impactful thriller/crime movie but rather a wet firecracker! Many other films in the thriller/crime movie genre, even older, are way far better than THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS in my opinion!

[@MediaBuster]

@@Jeckxdeel The acting still sucks. No one speaks like that in real life the way Hopkins spoke. That was his IDEA of how bad people speak, but they don't. Go watch serial killer interviews. They speak like normal people. He did a caricature.

[@Jeckxdeel]

@@MediaBuster You are not wrong about the way Hopkins speaks. And I already watched serial killers interviews! I only watched some clips in English from THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS! I watched THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS in French version in early 1993. I'm from Belgium and French is my native language. But anyway, I'm not a fan of this movie at all!

[@handekmessiah1112]

Ooohh sounds edgy, innit

[@highwaystar3780]

All this...and it goes on to Win Best Picture. Go figure? As for me,... pretty shity B movie with campy acting !

[@azach5288]

Sad thing is that neither Gene, or Roger never admit when they screeed up on a review.